Conservative Christians Blame the Gays for Hurricane Sandy

A conservative Christian pastor is blaming Hurricane Sandy, which was expected to impact the Eastern seaboard Monday evening and Tuesday morning, on the LGBT community.

John McTernan, author, pastor and founder of Defend and Proclaim the Faith ministries, fired off a blog post on the Defend and Proclaim website that suggested the LGBT community and President Barack Obama's support for marriage equality are to blame for Hurricane Sandy. He alo took aim at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The pastor wrote that Sandy is "the most powerful hurricane on record" that "could do catastrophic damage to the entire Northeast." McTernan also said "Obama is 100 percent behind the Muslim Brotherhood which has vowed to destroy Israel and take Jerusalem. Both candidates are pro-homosexual and are behind the homosexual agenda. America is under political judgment and the church does not know it!"

"The church in America is now EXACTLY like ancient Israel before the Babylonians destroyed them. Both ancient Israel and the modern American church completely lost the fear of God," he added.

In another blog post, titled "Hurricane Sandy and the Election," McTernan singles out Romney and writes, "Yes, he is a big time pro-homosexual supporter to the point he will keep open homosexuality in the military; he wants homosexuals in the Boy Scouts; and he wants more open homosexuals in the Republican Party."

This isn't the first time the pastor has pointed the finger at gay men and women for the cause of a hurricane.

EDGE reported in August that McTernan said New Orleans' Southern Decadence gay pride party was to blame for the arrival of Hurricane Isaac and pointed out that Isaac occurred seven years after the devastating Hurricane Katrina.

"The church, city and nation have not repented and the homosexual agenda is far worse than it was in 2005," he wrote. "New Orleans is still hosting Southern Decadence with open homosexuality manifesting in the streets of the city. It could be that God is putting an end to this city and its wickedness. The timing of Hurricane Isaac with Southern Decadence is a sign that God's patience with America's sin is coming to an end."

But Isaac missed New Orleans and only impacted surrounding parishes with down power lines, scattered tree limbs and minor flooding.

’Both candidates are pro-homosexual and are behind the homosexual agenda. America is under political judgment and the church does not know it!’

McTernan isn't alone in his views, however. Ex-gay activist Linda Wall, who manages the Facebook account for the Lisa Miller story, the Vermont woman who says she is no longer a lesbian, kidnapped her daughter and brought her to Central America to keep her away from her ex-partner, posted a status that many followers were upset over, Right Wing Watch reports.

"Let's See How Vermont Does During The Hurricane," she wrote. She then defended her comments and said "God's judgment is upon this country."

"I didn't expect most of you to agree with my statement. But I tell you this the tragedy here is that a little six year old Christian girl and her born again Mother had to flee America in order to obey God's Word," she wrote. "And now a Minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ is facing imprisonment for helping protect a little child from being removed from her biological Christian Mother and turned over to a stranger. Christians who loved and nurtured Lisa and Isabella through the six plus years are also being sued for obeying God's Word. So look in the mirror and decide where your commitment is. Vengeance is God's and He does repay."

The Christian conservative website World Net Daily blamed Hurricane Sandy on God's wrath as well. In a recent article WND says Sandy hit the East Coast because of the "God-defying attempts" the U.S. has made "to divide the land of Israel."

"When we put pressure on Israel to divide their land, we have enormous, record-setting events, often within 24 hours," William Koening, a (self-proclaimed) journalist and White House correspondent, told WND. "Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 - we have experienced over 90 record-setting, all-time events as we have acted against Israel. And the greater the pressure on Israel to 'cooperate,' the greater the catastrophe. Hurricane Sandy is expected to come ashore in the Northeast on the 21st anniversary of the 'Perfect Storm,'" Koenig added. "That record-setting storm devastated the New England coast as President George H.W. Bush co-sponsored the Madrid Conference from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, 1991."

Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, two conservative and anti-gay television evangelists, made similar comments regarding the 9/11 terrorist attacks, EDGE reported. Shorty after the attacks occurred, the two men said on "The 700 Club" that God was responding to the gay community and to feminists along with other "immoral" individuals.

"The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this," Falwell said during the Sept. 13, 2001, broadcast of "The 700 Club." He added, "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.' "

Robertson agreed with Falwell.

"Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government," he said. "And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, are the court system."

Comments

, 2012-10-30 02:40:27

It’s cute how your blaming pagans for natural disasters but yet your religion actually stole its beliefs from them in the first place. So you should be blaming your own religion just as much as you’re blaming them. This just goes to show to ignorant bible thumpers are to their own beliefs.

gdhamf, 2012-10-30 03:22:30

following this flawless logic, I wonder why Germany(ya remember WWII) and Iran are still on the map guess GOD was ok with all that pesky genocide stuff huh

, 2012-10-30 06:18:15

@gdhamf... I guess you don’t realize that Americans have killed more than 50 million babies. Not sure Iran and Germany can top that.It’s a wonder God doesn’t wipe us off the map!

, 2012-10-30 08:47:47

Lord, please grant me the strength to deal with fundamental christians. I will not allow them to drive me away from your message of love and tolerance, no matter how hard they try. Some of us read the bible and understood it. "Beware of false Prophets who come to you in lambs’ clothing, but from within they are vicious wolves."

gdhamf, 2012-10-30 15:14:00

Well, Anonymous I do realize that the government has no business in church, and the church has no business in government. I also realize that if you want to live in a theocracy you should probably go and live in one and stop trying to make the U.S.A. into what it is not and should never become. Freedom of religion is our right as Americans. Abortion is a religious issue and if you want it to end then do it thru your church, stop trying to legislate your religion, and actually try to expand your church.

Caleb Burgess, 2012-10-30 16:28:16

Being forced into christianity at a young age i found myself dobting everything they were sayin in church in my teen years... the more i saw an heard the more i was sure it was wrong... when i final found out my family would say im goin to hell for bein who i am i saw no more reason to stay with the church or comeout to my family... the one thing i did learn is that the christian right only accept u if ur just as crazy as them an follow there definition of christian... an even that is impossable as they constantly pick an chose an change the rules

, 2012-10-30 17:04:12

What an ignorant bigot. He exalts himself to be a Judge when he doesn’t have a clue about what he is talking about. The Bible teaches a completely different message, with a very different doctrine, from what he and his kind do.

, 2012-10-30 17:55:40

Oh don’t mind the silly notion of Global Warming, and then your Mitt Witt wants to stop funding FEMA to help the very people he profits off of!!And let’s don’t forget all the human trafficking you Heteros cause by all your "massage parlors" and titty bars!!Oh please STFU!!!Who cares

, 2012-10-30 17:57:13

Hmmm Edge is filtering female comments!!!

, 2012-10-30 17:58:09

This country is ran by churches! Pay ur freaking taxes!!

Oh Jed said:, 2012-10-30 18:25:01

You really have to laugh at the absurdity of it. Kuddos to those mind reading Meteorologists that can predict "gods" tantrums coming down the pike.

, 2012-10-30 18:25:21

If we had that kind of power, there’d be no HIV.

, 2012-10-30 22:12:58

Hitler blamed the Jews for Germanys problems. Not much has changed since then- as long as bible toting hypocrites are around.

, 2012-10-31 01:22:24

Yes, that totally makes sense, just like me shitting rainbows and flying.

gdhamf, 2012-10-31 04:24:11

watche all turn and run from the "beliefs" just remove the non profit status of any church that tries to dictate legislation!

OkieDave, 2012-10-31 07:37:39

Another self-loathing worthless comment from "Anonymous". Go crawl back under the log cabin you you came out from!

Kenneth Barr, 2012-10-31 17:01:03

Gee, this guy beat Pat Robertson to the punch. Old Pat the Rat must be slowing down in his old age.

Wayne M., 2012-10-31 18:07:29

John McTernan and others in the religious right have just given a perfect argument for protecting equality rights, including marriage equality in those states where people are voting whether or not to recognize same-sex marriage.. They obviously have no real arguments against marriage equality, strong legislation to deal with homophobic bullying and the LGBT community or they would not resort to such nonsense designed to raise fear, anger and hate. Furthermore, these people also do not represent the majority of Christians who focus on the love of God rather than misusing scripture out of scientific and historical context to justify bigotry against LGBT people, Muslims and women. These people need to gain a basic understanding of science and look back in history, for disasters such as hurricanes also occurred many years ago, back when homosexuality was illegal and the overwhelming majority of people were active in their faith. Furthermore, God does not play with the lives of people as much as the bigots in the religious right would like Him to do so.

Wayne M., 2012-10-31 21:54:12

One must also ask why these so called "ministries" that use human suffering from natural disasters to encourage hate and fear, or to further their own fundraising efforts so they can spread more of their poison continue to be allowed to have charitable tax status.

, 2012-11-01 01:23:34

John mcternan is an ass

, 2012-11-01 03:36:09

Ok I would like to point something out to these extreme Christian nut cases. Let us look at the Bible. God created Adam first who was male and a hermaphrodite might I add. Then God created Eve. Promptly kicked his children out of the garden of Eden after disobeying him one time. Now Adam and Eve were suppose to be the first "humans" on earth...so how did the earth become populated? Then Adam and Eve gave birth to two sons one was killed. This now leaves 1 woman and 2 men. Yup that’s right in order to populate those two men had to have sex with Eve. And if Eve gave birth to a girl then that means they had to sleep with her once she started to menstruate. So yea we have incest right there (not promoting incest btw, however you love who you love so whatever not my business) then there was the Mary and Joseph thing. I’m sorry but an "angel" comes down and tells Mary (who was 14 just so you know) on the Eve before her wedding to Joseph (who was 3 times her age) that she was going to carry gods son. Didn’t ask her if that’s what she wanted nope just said you’re going to carry my kid don’t care about your feelings so deal with it. So right there you have rape and pedophilia. Oh also I do believe gods 10 commandments state thou shall not kill, yet Christians murdered pagans, then commuted more murder during the Crusades and commuted even more murder during the Spanish Inquisition. So yeah just saying. Go ahead and say what you will but that is a fact. Oh also the Babylonians that "story" was centered around mans EGO not their sexuality or splitting Israel in two. Also guess what Babylonia was there before Jerusalem and before the Babylonians it was the Sumerians. See isn’t history fun?

Jim2008, 2012-11-01 14:58:08

Why do we care what these totally crazy people think and give them any intention. They have no meaning in my life and are insignificant human beings. I wish the media would just ignore them. They love the publicity and the attention. Be indifferent to them and maybe they will go away and live in their own hell without having a spotlight too. These articles are like going into the asylum for the criminally insane and asking the inmates their opinions on compassion.

Oh Jed said:, 2012-11-01 16:25:57

Jim, your post made me laugh. :). They’re about as likely to go away as an infestation of roaches.

, 2012-11-01 16:36:51

90,000,000 Native Americans killed by disease or warfare incident to Euro conquest of North America, and God did not lower the boom on those people. Over a hundred years of slavery in the US, and a war to end it, and God did not lower the boom. Ten million or more Jews, Slavs, dissidents, people of faith murdered by the Nazis, and God did no lower the boom. Several states make noises about gay marriage, and now He’s gonna lower the boom? Not likely.

, 2012-11-06 17:37:12

Oh you who have little knowledge or understanding.. Every man gets every good that he earns and suffers every ill that he earns. Let him who hath understanding, comprehend the signs of God Lord Supreme.

, 2012-11-07 13:49:15

By the way, the Bible is absolutely true in what it teaches, but is not all history. Many of the ’events’ related in the Bible are there not to be learned, but to be learned from. All are to be understood in the context of the people to whom first told. In my mind, the largest objection to homosexuality in the Bible can readily be related to the fact that the Jews needed infantry.

GT, 2012-11-20 19:09:53

Since we did such a great job creating the hurricane, Mabel we should create a nice earthquake to swallow up this dumb ass bastard.

A far right-wing pastor’s blog post blames Hurricane Isaac’s arrival in New Orleans on the city’s massive Southern Decadence party; his suggestion that Isaac is God’s judgement has been picked up by others.